Goodguys Car Show - Battle Of The Brands

Camaros Steal The Spotlight On The Goodguys' Biggies Stage

Officially, it’s called the Goodguys PPG Nationals, but anyone “in the know” simply refers to it as Goodguys Columbus. After all, this is the “big daddy” of the outdoor car shows geared towards classic hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Goodguys Columbus has always been a mecca for vintage hot rodders with a taste for early street rods and customs, however, when Goodguys introduced the event in 1998 they couldn’t help but take notice of the undeniable increase in popularity of late-sixties and early seventies muscle cars, and opened up the invite to consist of 1972 and earlier cars.

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Historically, the show has been dominated by pre-1949 cars, but the 2008 show marked a noticeable increase in post ‘50s hot rods. In fact, 51% of the 6,000-plus registered cars were 1950 and newer – a Goodguy’s first. It just goes to show that the muscle car and street machine segment of the hobby, have made huge strides in popularity among classic car enthusiasts.

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As this surge continues, the aftermarket is blowing up with new and improved products designed for almost every make and model of late-sixties and early-seventies hot rods—and were not just talking tires, wheels, and brakes—some of the most technologically advanced, modern suspension components are now available to convert once ill-handling ’60s muscle cars into corner carving g-machines. You have to remember, when these cars were new, straight-line racing was all the rage, nationwide. So, relatively speaking, there was limited public interest in lateral g driving at the time. As Stock and Super Stock drag cars were bringing home Wallys on the drag strip, Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler dealerships were reaping the rewards in the showroom; Hence the mantra, “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.”

Today, the Goodguys autocross offers a great forum for suspension and chassis building companies to show the functionality of their wares in front of a huge, captive audience.

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It all started in 2007, Goodguys and the folks at Air Ride Technologies put the idea together and began testing the waters by setting up an autocross at a few select events. Widely accepted by spectators, competitors, and vendors its popularity soon made it a premier attraction at selected events. So much so, they’ve added the timed course at nine events for the 2008 season.

MORE PHOTOS

Mike George of Chelsea, Alabama took some serious laps around the autocross course proving he wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty in his highly customized ’69.

Jeff Hanson’s LS7-powered ’69 made the top five, putting him in solid contention for the SMOY award. He also made impressive runs on the autocross course putting his DSE suspension to the test whipping up of the lowest lap times of the competition.

This beautiful ’68 convertible belongs to Kevin Alstott out of FT. Dodge, Iowa. Not only was he aggressive on the turns, but got he got the crowd going with smokey burnouts off the line.

Ray Thompson has owned this ’67 since his high school days. It’s armed with some very early DSE suspension goodies. As you can tell they still hang tough in any setting including the Columbus autocross.

Kenny Davis dropped a ZL1 into his gorgeous ’69 and had no qualms about showing its abilities on the autocross. He may have nipped a cone here, but that just tells us he was taking the competition very seriously.

Joe Brown’s ’69 was in contention for the SMOY, but failed to make the final 5. It’s powered by a Ramjet 502 and backed by a 6-speed.

Ray Young’s ’69 looks mean, and it is mean. The 480LE bolts up to a blown 572 ci mill.

Built by Modern Muscle in Hudson, Florida James McLeod’s ’69 Convertible was also a top five finisher for Street Machine of the Year.

Here is the 2008 Goodguys Street Machine of the Year. It’s owned by Erv Wollar and built by the Ring Brothers. The ’69 goes by the name of Razor and handles every bit as good as it looks.

We were diggin’ on Bob Bertelsen’s ’69 all weekend. It too made some impressive laps on the autocross course.

That’s Goodguys’ publicity man John Drummond handling the play-by-play during the autocross action. The kid’s got serious announcing game —a natural for a future broadcasting.

David Carr came all the way from Bakersfield, California to play hard ball in his Fesler Built ’69. It’s bad, black, and motivated by a serious 572.

Michael Serafine made the trip all the way from Altamonte Springs, Florida with his ’67 to take part in the action at Goodguys Columbus.

The Pro’s pick area was packed all weekend long. Not even the threat of rain could water down the excitement in the air.

We found this simply awesome ’67 in the Pro’s Pick area. It belongs to Roger Lynskey from Rockwall, Texas and it nabbed plenty of attention all weekend.

Just a little lowering and not much else makes for a sweet ride. Doug & Mary Ann Cope’s ’69 Z/28 has that perfect stance.

Tom Hartman wasn’t hanging out in the rain on Saturday, but his old school-style ’69 was.

Award-winning hot rod builder Bobby Alloway always has something up his sleeve for the Goodguys Columbus event, and this year was no exception. He did a fantastic job on this tasty ’68 owned by Geroge Lange.

Looks like we’re not the only ones thinking something funny’s going on here.

Accelerating through the final turns of the autocross made for some exciting action on Friday.

We were searching the fairgrounds for 2nd-gens all weekend. Finally, on Sunday we came upon this beautiful ’72 belonging to Cody Lebo from Logansport, Indiana. Look for a full feature on this car in the January issue of Camaro Performers magazine

There was a crowd gathered around the Ring Brothers built ’69 Camaro all weekend long. Getting an unobstructed photo was nearly impossible.

Four of the five cars in contention for the Goodguys SMOY were Camaros. While every one of them deserved to win, only one can grab the gold.

Goodguys President Marc Meadors (left) and Air Ride Technologies’ owner Bret Voelkel (right) join in on congratulating Mike and Jim Ring, and Razor’s proud owner Erv Woller on capturing the 2008 Goodguys Street Machine of the year award.

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